“Academic Auschwitz” That’s how I used to refer to the USC Law Center. My three years there neatly coincided with Reagan’s first term in office. They were relentlessly miserable. With each passing day I became more class-conscious and more appalled at the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the American professional demographic. Each day was filled [...]
Today is the sixth anniversary of my dad’s death. My mom took this picture on Rutherford Drive in the Hollywood Hills back in the summer of ’81. I plan to publish many of my father’s photographs and movies soon, along with his book on the Middle-East. No doubt a grateful world will wonder what took [...]
Back in 1989, my 1979 Chevy Camaro Berlinetta was, as a friend’s ex-wife once said, “a really bitchin car.” You don’t get the full effect unless you’ve got the t-tops off and you’re going down the highway very, very fast and listening to Free Wheel Burning very, very loud. A lot of people thought the [...]
My mom took this picture in Woking, United Kingdom, in April of 1984. Share on Facebook
Here I am in the summer of ’86 at counsel table in one of the big arraignment courts in the Criminal Courts Building in downtown Los Angeles. I was a deputy public defender, and I was delighted to be getting paid to cross-examine cops. Not much more than a year later, I left that job [...]
Coffee mugs are some of the most common drug paraphernalia around. Here we have a friendly, feline-oriented mug that dates from 1980. Today, 28 years later, you can see that the mug is doing its usual splendid job: exploiting the forces of gravity to keep hot coffee contained within its walls. You can also see [...]
Charles Whitebread died a few days ago at the age of 65. He never smoked cigarettes but lung cancer killed him anyway. I knew him at USC and in the bar review business. Professor Whitebread was one of the best lecturers I ever watched and listened to. He joined the faculty at the USC Law [...]
It’s been 25 years since the second US Festival. I had just finished my second year at the USC School of Law and was very much in the mood for big crowds and loud music. The US Festival was a three-day show. Larry and I went to days two and three, making our way to [...]
This picture was taken in 1988, twenty years ago, at UC Berkeley, bastion of free speech. Some of America’s smartest and most talented college kids thought this was a practical way to deal with the TV problem. Alexis and I grew up in Hollywood. Our family has been connected to the entertainment business for more [...]
X was, and remains, one of the finest bands to come out LA. I have seen them many times over the years, at places like Madam Wong’s West. Here’s a ticket stub from a show they put on at the Santa Monica Civic back in 1980. You’ll notice that this was a general admission show. [...]
25 years ago today, I was a second year law student at the University of Southern California. Here is what was on my mind as I sat in one of the big amphitheater classrooms. A typed translation of the scribbling follows, below. “I sold pot in the U.S. A quarter ounce. It cost me 40 [...]
Today is the 28th anniversary of my assassination. Fortunately, since I was raised by cats, I have more than one life to give for school and country. Share on Facebook
Joan Pearce died three years ago today. Here is a picture of her that my dad took in May 1981 at the Renaissance Faire in Agoura, California. Share on Facebook
